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Upper Deck Masterpieces: Review & Trades?

2008 Upper Deck UD Masterpieces Review:

Basics:
What I opened: 3 UD Masterpieces blister packs from Wal*Mart
What I paid: $2.99 each ($8.97 total), 4 cards per pack
What I got: 10 cards
· 9 out of 90 regular base cards (10% of the set)
· 0 short prints out of 30
· 1 Relic card: Greg Maddux "Captured on Canvas" (with pinstripe from Cubs uniform)

First, the packs (in the order I opened 'em):

Pack 1:


The first pack contained:
#10 Nick Markakis
#14 Daisuke Matsuzaka (the pack cover boy by the way)
#28 Travis Hafner
#73 Freddy Sanchez
Not a bad pack, but not exciting to me either. The Sanchez card is quite nice I think, it's a rather unique view for a baseball card.



Pack 2:




The second pack contained:
#17 Manny Ramirez
#55 Johan Santana
#83 Ozzie Smith
#87 Michael Young
Now THAT'S what I'm talking about. I'm a sucker for the "old school" players, so seeing a nice Ozzie Smith card made me happy. I especially like the horizontal picture for both Ozzie and Johan Santana...that's sideways done right in my opinion.


Pack 3:


The third pack contained:
#81 Ichiro
#CC-GM Greg Maddux "Captured On Canvas" Relic card
Although I really like the relic card design, I was disappointed to find out that my pack only contained 2 cards. Futhermore, I already had the Ichiro card (my only double so far), so that was a bit of a let down. However, the relic card is NICE! I like the pinstripe, I like the card design, and I like how the material swatch fits nicely with the regular card stock in this set (unlike with glossy cards - Upper Deck X I'm looking at you, blech). I also like the dark frame, and heck, even the gold-lettering works for me.



Overall, I like the set. I had bought a few packs previously, so I now have 31 of the 90 base cards (no short prints) and the one relic card. I guess I should be happy I pulled the relic, but I think I actually would have preferred to get more of the base cards! After buying a few packs, I've decided that I really like UD Masterpieces. However (and this is important), there are 30 short prints in the set, and I haven't gotten one yet. That tells me that they are MUCH too rare - and as such, I probably won't be collecting the Masterpieces set. (I've got enough difficulty trying to put together my Allen & Ginter, Heritage, and Goudey sets with their short prints...I don't need anymore!)
The bottom line:
I give the 2008 UD Masterpieces set a solid 80 / 100.
Pros: I like the small set size and the base card design. I like the thick cardboard stock. I like the mix of new and old players.
Cons: I don't like short prints. I think that 4 cards for $3.00 is a bit steep, especially when one of the cards is a double! I don't like how Upper Deck refuses to put insertion odds on their packs, including the insertion odds for their short prints.

Comments

  1. If you're wanting to trade doubles or some of the base set for other cards let me know! I'm trying to complete it myself. I bought two hobby boxes and still dan;t have the complete base set yet and I got 5 SP doubles! Not real happy with that but a great set none-the-less

    ReplyDelete
  2. very cool

    Nick is a great player

    ReplyDelete

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